Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The Meatqual
by Terra Young
Summary: Ever wonder what happened to Chew and Swallow? If Flint married Sam, and if they had kids? Well, wonder no more. This story is about Crystal Lockwood, Flint and Sam's daughter. Is she meant to be an inventor? Read to find out.
1. Prologue

Hi, it's me with another story. For all the fans of The Water Avatar, I'm _really_ sorry about not updating, but I've just lost interest in working on it. Plus, high school and a lot of story ideas generally don't do well together. Anyway, here is my first Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs story. I don't own anything from there (unfortunately). All I own is Crystal and anyone/thing not in the movie. Please read and review, but no flames. Any, and all, flames will be fed to the mayor (and we all know we don't want that).  
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My name is Crystal Lockwood. My dad is Flint Lockwood, the inventor who created food weather, flying car, and the monkey thought translator. And my mom is Sam Lockwood, the weatherwoman. This is a story about _my_ adventures in the small town of Chew and Swallow (yes, they kept the name).

For my sixth birthday my dad took me on a tour of his lab. Ever since I was old enough to understand his job of an inventor, I'd been begging to be taken there. During the tour, he explained every light, every button, every switch, and every little doodad. A third of it I didn't understand, even though he did his best to translate it so a six-year old could comprehend it. Another third I'm sure I forgot by the end. But the remaining third was enough to get me hooked.

Over the next year, with my begging, my dad explained most of his inventions to me. No matter how much I tried, he wouldn't tell me about the one that made food weather, but it didn't matter to me. By the time I was seven, my dad and grandpa had built me a lab of my own. It was smaller, but perfect for anyone my size. When I was eight, I had finally built my own invention…

"The animal speech translator!" I announced, facing my audience, which was my third grade class. I had worked hard to finish my invention before school ended because third grade was the last chance I had for show-and-tell. Standing up here made me feel like I was an actual inventor, just like my dad.

"Why should animals be limited to just sharing their thoughts? With my invention, they can talk to us, animal to human." I held up Steve, my dad's pet monkey. The animal speech translator looked as same as the thought translator, but it was all blue and it didn't need a headband.

"Okay Steve," I said, pushing a bit of my dark brown hair from in front of my eyes, "what is your favorite food?" Nothing came out of the translator. "I _said_ 'what is your favorite food?' " Again, nothing came out of the translator.

I faced my class nervously, fiddling with my glasses. "I-I guess it's having some problems today." They started laughing.

"Apparently, she's just as lame as her father," Heather, the mayor's daughter, whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. Again, the whole class, except Chicken Brent's daughter, Gwen, laughed. My blue-green eyes filled with tears. This was quickly becoming the worst day of my life, all because of my being an inventor, or at least trying to be one.

"Yeah," One of Heather's friends, Justin, agreed, "She's a nerd." The bell rang, and, one by one, my class filed out for recess. Gwen gave me a sympathetic glance as she followed the teacher, who was now holding Steve.

I took off my glasses and stared at them. Even though I never needed them to see, I wore my glasses because my mom wore them, too, and, to me, pretty much anything my parents did was cool. Plus they made me feel smart. But today, feeling smart had led to the worst day of my life. Wiping away the tears, I threw my glasses in the garbage. I was done with being an inventor. When I was finished, I ran outside towards Gwen, the only one who didn't laugh at me.

"Hey, Gwen!" I called. "Can I play with you?"

She turned around. "Sure, but what happened to your glasses?"

"I threw them away."

"Why?"

"I don't want to be an inventor anymore."

"Okay. Do you want a cookie? I have two." Gwen held one up to me.

"Sure." I grabbed the cookie and sat down with Gwen. _From now on, _I thought,_ no one's ever going to call me a nerd again._


	2. Chapter 1

I'm back with another update! Thanks to BubbleLuscious and futureauthor13 for reviewing! Futureauthor13, your question _will_ be answered. Just not in the way you probably thought. Anyway, all I own is Crystal and anyone/thing not in the movie. Please read and review, but no flames. Any, and all, flames will be fed to the mayor (and we all know we don't want that).  
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Six years later…

I twirled in front of my mirror. Tonight was the freshman dance, and, although I didn't like dances much, I had to admit that Gwen _did_ pick out a good dress. It was short-sleeved and went down to my thighs. The dress was mostly chocolate brown with green stripes going around it like vines from a plant. I looked nothing like an inventor's daughter.

When my dad picked me up from school the day my invention failed, it took him five minutes to absorb my giving up being an inventor. Once he finally got over the shock he said, a little disappointed, "If that's what you want, that's fine, just know that I'm with you, ok?" I had been happy that he understood, but now it made me sad. It took until I was a little older, but I realized that with his daughter being an inventor, too, he'd have someone who'd understand all that inventing stuff, but now, he'd be all by himself again.

I sighed. There were times when all I wanted to do was go in my little-kid lab and invent, but, whenever I thought about doing just that, the memory of Heather and Justin taunting me flashes in my mind, and I tune the feeling away. I shook the sad thoughts off and ran down the steps to our family room. Mom was already there, and she turned around as soon as she heard me come down.

"You look great Crystal!" My mom exclaimed.

"She's not the only one." My dad said as he came in, giving my mom a kiss on the cheek. I rolled my eyes, though I had a small smile on my face. Judging by the singe marks on the bottom of his lab coat, Dad had just come back from his lab.

"So, what exploded _this_ time, Dad?" I asked teasingly.

"Just a Particle Numblicatoring Genome Kookatron." He answered like what he said made perfect sense. I shared a 'what is he _talking _about' look with my mom who looked as confused as me.

"Yeah, I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to do either. But," Dad shrugged, "if it hadn't blown up, I'm sure I would've figured it out eventually. So, are you ready Crystal?"

I nodded. "Yep." As we headed out the door, I gave my mom a hug.

It took about five minutes to get to the school. I said goodbye to Dad and got out of the car. _Weird, _I thought, _the wind smells funny. _ I couldn't place the smell, so I ignored it and walked inside.

The music was loud enough to hear outside, but, luckily, it wasn't that loud inside. A band was playing some song I didn't recognize. I scanned the crowd for a familiar face. Unfortunately, I found one.

"Hello nerd." A voice sneered from behind me.

I turned around and saw Heather. The only thing that had changed about _her_ was her personality. She had gotten meaner over the past six years. I lost count how many times she called me "nerd" in fourth grade.

"If you're looking to be prom queen," Heather continued, "don't bother. Science geeks _never _have a chance."

I lost interest in science a long time ago, but the comment still stung. My dad loves science, and he's done more things than Heather could _dream_ of.

"Three things, Heather," I replied. "One: Freshmen can't be on prom court. Two: What makes you think I _want_ to be prom queen? And three: In case you haven't noticed, science isn't my thing anymore." I walked away, leaving Heather speechless. She may dish it out, but she can't take it.

"Hey Crystal!" Gwen called from over by the food table. She was holding a cheeseburger. "They have your favorite: cheese with extra onion!" Onion. That's _what the smell was! Onion! _I paused from my walk over to Gwen. _Why would the wind smell like onion? _

A thud interrupted my thoughts. The music died down. There was another thud. Slowly, everyone walked outside. Once everyone got outside, our jaws dropped. Because, for the first time in years, it was raining hamburgers.

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I hope you like the cliffhanger :). Just to let you know, I'll do my best, but I might not update for a while. High school keeps me _very_ busy.


	3. Chapter 2

Sorry for taking so long. I'm in high school, and they give a _lot_ of homework. Throw in a Robotics class each Thursday and a dance class each Tuesday, and I have very little time to type. I hope you like this chapter, and thanks to all who reviewed! All I own is Crystal and anyone/thing not in the movie. Please read and review, but no flames. Any, and all, flames will be fed to the mayor (and we all know we don't want that).  
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After almost two minutes of standing in shock, most of the people at the dance ran around, grabbing hamburgers and eating them. None of us had been born yet when the food weather was around, so everyone was happy that it came back. Everyone but me; I was too busy wondering how it could be happening.

"Howcould it be back?" I asked Gwen. "I mean, I thought Dad found a way to get rid of the FLDSMDFR _years _ago."

Gwen shrugged and walked inside. Most of the freshmen had headed inside by then, and most of them were dancing.

"I don't know," Gwen finally replied. "Maybe someone else found the blueprints and built another one."

"Can't be, Dad has the only copy and he keeps it in a box outside town which is in a ratbirds' nest underground. Not to mention that only Mom, Dad, you, and I know the location. The only way it could be around is if it wasn't totally destroyed."

"Which is impossible," Gwen concluded.

I was about to reply when everyone started gathering around the soon-to-be Homecoming Stage. We pushed our way to the front where we discovered that my dad was standing onstage. He was trying to get the crowd's attention, but wasn't succeeding. Fortunately, Earl, the cop, jumped onstage and grabbed the microphone.

"QUIET!" He shouted, managing to make everyone, even our half-deaf science teacher, stop talking and cover their ears.

"Thank you Earl," Dad said before clearing his throat and continuing, "As you have seen, the food weather's back."

"Obviously." Heather muttered, loud enough for most people to hear her. I glared at her, but she either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Right now, it's too early to tell why this has come back, but I can assure you that I'll be working as hard as I can to find out what's happening and to stop it." Dad promised. Then, so quiet, I wasn't sure if he said anything, "I hope."

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The next day at school, everyone was guessing about what caused the food showers. Yes, shower_s_; this morning, it had rained cereal and milk. The theories ranged from the FLDSMDFR being back, to a weird weapon, to alien attack. And the funny thing is that it wasn't the sci-fi obsessed who came up with an alien attack; it was the teachers.

"Really," I started as Gwen and I walked out of our last class, "_aliens_? I mean there's only a 0.489362274%1 chance that there's any other life in our own _solar system_, and anywhere outside of our solar system is too far away!" There was a few seconds pause before Gwen finally said something.

"O-kay. Anyway, are you going to help your dad with finding a way to stop this?" I stopped walking, leaving Gwen to walk for a few seconds, finally stopping not too far ahead.

"What?" I asked.

"I know you stopped being an inventor years ago, but maybe you could start again, just to help your dad? It was a bad experience, I know, but isn't it time to finally start up again, before you lose the chance? If things go bad like they did last time-"

"I am _not _an inventor anymore, ok?" I said, cutting her off. "And besides, if a food hurricane pops up again, well, Dad's beaten the FLDSMDFR once, so he can do it again."

"He almost died then; what makes you so sure he'll survive again? I don't want him to die, almost as much as you, but if he doesn't have any help who _knows_ what'll happen this time!"

"He doesn't need my help; he's got Mom and Manny, and your dad too, if he wants to help."

"Manny's visiting his family in Venezuela, and your mom almost died from a peanut allergy; your dad needs help from an inventor. He needs _your_ help Crystal, and if you can't tell that you're blinder to obvious facts than Heather is to kindness." And with that final message, Gwen walked outside to her dad's car, leaving me to think about what she'd said.

_Does Dad really need my help? _I thought. _But Gwen _does_ have a point, two minds are better than one, especially those of inventors'. And Dad's the only one here, unless I decided to help. _I stared at the door Gwen went through and pushed through it myself. _Okay, Gwen, I'll help, but just this once. After this, I'm done forever. _

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1-Not a real percentage.

So, Crystal's going to invent again. This story is definitely _not _going the way I originally mapped it out. In the original, there wasn't a dance, and Crystal and Gwen's fight/conversation went _way_ differently. *shrugs* But that's how writing goes I guess. Tune in next chapter for Crystal trying to help through inventing. And if anyone's wondering what happened to Justin from the prologue, he _might _come back next chapter. Take a guess as to how it'll turn out, but my money's on not good.


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